As for the difference between the ATX and the CTX is the area inside the shafts that can pinch the cable,
The CTX from the photo above and my poor memory there is only one thin tube that has a possibility to pinch the cable where as
the ATX has three thicker tubes to damage the cable.
My action when collapsing the shaft is to STOP as soon as I feel resistance. Also a full turn of the shaft in the control housing mount will loosen or tighten the coil which may have an affect on the way the shaft will collapse.
Of course a thorough fresh water rinse is a must especially after a salt water hunt to keep things gliding smoothly.

They are sold ATX. I was contacted today by the person to whom I have sold and he realized that the cable was dissolved after the flat had been changed. Still has nine months of active garrett guarantee change. Personally I ATX with a thousand problems I faced I wont even if given

Has anybody recently bought a ATX and knows that the machine was made recently and is having this issue still? I hope the tread dies out I'm tired of all the negitive that the ATX is getting . Why doesn't anybody post anymore.

Quotedoc holiday232
THE REASON WHY I have not bought the ATX---a known problem from a company who doesn't care what you think.

I have owned other garrett products and they seem to be pretty good, some seemed to be lightweight cheaply made, but then took a beating and impressed me. I have not tried the ATX yet, I have purchased the new basic pkg 11x13, hopefully I do not have to post those nasty kind of pictures later....I will not be hunting in saltwater at all though. There must be replacement coil wire out there of better quality that we could splice in if that is an option....I was thinking of waiting for a new pi to come out from garrett, but I could be waiting years.....lol. i am sure that now that my purchase is made they will announce a new pi detector this spring!

Have had my ATX since Nov.2013, never had any problem with the 12x10"DD coil dipping the nose as was reported by many in the first years ...... there was/is a very simple fix to that problem!

I've got 6 coils for the ATX, had 7 but gave one away to a friend, none of these coils have trouble with the coil wire ..... again there is a simple what to do "fix" that help reduce the risk of cable damage.

Since I've had my ATX since 2013 when it first became available I do not consider the ATX as being NEW, my guess is that if something should happen that require repair Garrett would not not regard this ATX as new either!

I'm not bashing everything garrett--my favorite all time detector is a 1976 Garrett Deep Seeker with which i found over 100 cannon projectiles,from 6lb balls to 100 lb Parrot shells--I'm saying that the wide spread complaints about dissolving cable wiring is VALID and has NOT been fixed--SO I will NOT be buying Garrett until it's fixed.